Compare and Contrast Studying Overseas and Locally
Education is very essential in life. Nearly everyone believes that having good education opens doors for a good career and thus a high living standard. Due to this reason, several students wish to get the best education they can possibly have. Nowadays, studying abroad is the most credible trend among students as they look forward to gaining international exposure and empirical learning (Easyuni, 2017). Studying abroad enables a person to get a better education and acquire better knowledge, hence increasing an individual’s opportunity to get better employment. However, it is also important for a student to consider the benefits of studying locally, such as reduced costs. Besides, it is vital to note that although studying abroad and locally may have their differences, they also have several similarities in terms of curriculum, cost of living and education, and culture.
Though education abroad and locally offers students a standardized education, there are differences in the curriculum (Holmes, 2015). Education, whether abroad or locally, is similar in that in both instances, students have to attain a specific standardized education for them to be accepted by the university board. However, the curriculum studied presents one of the major differences. Local study programs are formulated with local students in mind, and in some cases, are even created by home universities or colleges. However, if a person chooses to pursue his or her education abroad, the curriculum he would adhere to will be distinctly different from the local one. For example, studying locally in the US gives the students the opportunity of exploring different academic disciplines and also permit the student to take extra courses outside their majors (Holmes, 2015). However, the regulation of studying abroad may be structurally different, and students are expected to choose their majors as soon as they join college and fully focus on the major. The curriculum structure of local and abroad education may also differ in terms of the amount of time allocated to education. For example, while studying abroad in South Korea, a student will spend 220 days annually in schools, while their counterparts studying locally in the US will spend 40 days less in school (Lumen, n.d. para 7).
Another point of comparison is the cost of living and education. Both local and broad education requires money to cater for expenditure such as tuition fees and accommodation (Aron, 2011). However, in general, studying abroad is relatively expensive due to the added expenditure spent on visas, passport, foreign exchange, and flight charges. Furthermore, most countries do not permit students to work; hence studying abroad is a heavy financial burden. Besides the tuition fees, the student will also have to consider living costs (Easyuni, 2017). In these contexts, studying abroad may be costlier as compared to studying locally. However, it is important to note that there are certain countries that provide free education in terms of scholarships to foreign students. For example, Denmark offers free higher education to students from the European Union and Switzerland, as well as those under the student exchange program in the country (Easyuni, 2017, para 2). On the other hand, studying locally, apart from reduced cost, also allows students to easily get part-time jobs while schooling without being worried about the language barrier or work permit.
Studying abroad and locally can also be compared in terms of exposure to various cultures. Whether local or abroad, it is no doubt that higher education creates an opportunity for students to interact with people from various cultural backgrounds (Easyuni, 2017). However, studying abroad creates a bigger opportunity where students get immersed in another culture to the greatest extent possible. As opposed to studying locally, where the students will mostly interact with other US students, pursuing education in a foreign country will enable the student to attend classes, in which the majority of the population are students from that nation (Holmes, 2015). Besides, during their free time, foreign students will highly likely interact with domestic students. Studying abroad impacts a person’s cultural sensitivity (sense of belonging and acceptance to the group) by enhancing cultural competence (ability to interact freely with people from various cultures) (Krause, 2018). As the student spends time with students from a foreign country, he or she gets to learn their cultural norms and behavior. Being exposed to various cultures and experiences is essential in teaching youths to recognize that every culture is unique and that no culture is better than the other. Furthermore, the challenges of interacting with new people, being exposed to a new culture, and adopting it, shape a person to be confident and independent (Krause, 2018). Moreover, learning new culture implies learning a new language, hence students who study abroad benefit from improved communication skills and mastery of different languages.
In conclusion, local and foreign studies both have similarities and differences in terms of curriculum, cost, and culture. Studying abroad or locally are similar in the sense that both offer standardized education, expose students to a different culture, and require money to cover for accommodation and tuition fees. However, studying locally and abroad have distinctive differences such as the higher cost of studying abroad, different curriculum applied in local and abroad education, and greater exposure and immersion into different culture when one studies abroad. Nonetheless, even though studying abroad has grown to be popular, it is important for students to examine all the possibilities for them to make an informed decision.